Mayor is confident SolarCity will begin production in December

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is very confident Tesla CEO Elon Musk will keep his promise to open SolarCity in south Buffalo with the hopes of creating a total of 3,000 jobs in the future. WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley has reaction from the Mayor after Musk held a conference call earlier this week with investors.

"I feel very good about it. Elon Musk – breaking news – was just on a conference call with investors,” declared Mayor Brown.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown reacting to word that Elon Musk is promising to ramp up production of solar panels in Buffalo this December.

Credit WBFO News photo by Eileen Buckley

That was Mayor Brown explaining Musk spoke with investors Wednesday night. Brown tells us Musk delivered a positive message about his plans and commitment to Buffalo's solar panel factory.

“And said that now the new Telsa has been rolled out, has been launched, that his this attention is going to shift to the plant in Buffalo and the production of solar panels in Buffalo, which he expects to ramp up slowing in December, but feels the Buffalo plant will eventually become a power house of solar panel manufacturing,” Brown explained.

Mayor Brown is also voicing confidence in Panasonic's partnership with Tesla. Panasonic has an agreement to work with Telsa for Buffalo’s solar factor. Panasonic recently held job fairs in the Buffalo community to find future employees to work at the new city factory.

“Where they committed to hiring 150 people by August 30th and another 150 people by March of next year,” Brown stated.

WBFO News asked Brown what kind of accountability he expects from Musk on promised Buffalo jobs at the solar facility.

“Well it is primarily a state project, being monitored by the state. The state is checking in on this development very closely. Elon Musk, of course, is one of the foremost entrepreneurs in the entire world,” replied Mayor Brown.

Mayor Brown noted some employees have already been hired at SolarCity to begin ramping up production for this December.

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At a cost of over $600 million, the SolarCity project in Buffalo's Riverbend section represents one of the costliest efforts ever for New York taxpayers. The costs, however, didn't stop with construction. After sifting through thousands of pages of documents, Charlotte Keith of Investigative Post has placed a spotlight on how the public has been footing the bill for a wide array of expenses.

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During an appearance on WBFO's Press Pass, Charlotte Keith of Investigative Post discusses the many expenses that have been added to the publicly-funded SolarCity project.